The commemorative miniature sheets in the format and design of playing cards are a particularly innovative release for the round anniversary of the Piatnik company.
In 1843, the trained card painter Ferdinand Piatnik took over a Viennese card painting business founded in 1824.
The company is still run by the Piatnik family today as the "Viennese Playing Card Factory Ferd. Piatnik & Sons." After World War II, in addition to playing cards, the production of board games and puzzles began, and the company also developed new games such as "Activity." Piatnik is currently Austria's largest game publisher, easily identified by its company logo featuring a jockey on a horse.
For the 200th anniversary, Austrian Post is issuing very special commemorative miniature sheets. The four different stamp variants each show the Ace value in the four suits of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, with the actual gummed stamp, having a nominal value of 450 cents, being die-cut and removable from the playing card. The miniature sheets, with their classic Piatnik design, not only look like playing cards but can also be used as such, since each sheet is part of a set with the four additional playing cards of the respective suit, namely King, Queen, Jack, and 10. A removable vignette, designed like the commemorative stamp but not valid for postage, is integrated into these supplementary playing cards. The sets in all four suits make up a complete deck of twenty playing cards for the "Schnapsen" game, in which, as mentioned, each Ace is a commemorative stamp.
Each commemorative miniature sheet is available only as a set with the other playing cards of the respective suit for 4.99 euros. Subscribers receive all four commemorative stamps without the set, namely the Ace of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs.
